Why does the Taliban have American bullets?
By Christian Brose When it comes to the reporting C.J. Chivers is doing from Afghanistan, I’m with Tom Ricks: The guy is indispensable — a fearless correspondent and a masterful writer, with sound judgment to match. Which is all the more reason I was so puzzled reading his front-page piece in the New York Times today: ...
When it comes to the reporting C.J. Chivers is doing from Afghanistan, I’m with Tom Ricks: The guy is indispensable — a fearless correspondent and a masterful writer, with sound judgment to match. Which is all the more reason I was so puzzled reading his front-page piece in the New York Times today:
Insurgents in Afghanistan, fighting from some of the poorest and most remote regions on earth, have managed for years to maintain an intensive guerrilla war against materially superior American and Afghan forces.
Arms and ordnance collected from dead insurgents hint at one possible reason: Of 30 rifle magazines recently taken from insurgents’ corpses, at least 17 contained cartridges, or rounds, identical to ammunition the United States had provided to Afghan government forces, according to an examination of ammunition markings by The New York Times and interviews with American officers and arms dealers.
The presence of this ammunition among the dead in the Korangal Valley, an area of often fierce fighting near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan, strongly suggests that munitions procured by the Pentagon have leaked from Afghan forces for use against American troops.
Parsing the media’s coverage of national security is more Peter Feaver’s domain than mine, but "stongly suggests"? We’re talking about 17 rifle magazines here, and even then, only some individual rounds of ammunition within them. Couldn’t this strongly suggest, I don’t know, maybe that of the hundreds and hundreds of Afghan army and police forces killed over the past few years, the Taliban has made off with some of their U.S.-provided ammunition? After all, they are both using the same model of weapon.
I’m not saying it’s impossible that Afghan forces somewhere are leaking their American munitions to the Taliban. I’d almost be surprised if some of them weren’t. Still, this seems like an unbelievably small set of data from which to draw such strong conlcusions about one explanation, when a host of others are equally plausible, if not more so.
More from Foreign Policy
Can Russia Get Used to Being China’s Little Brother?
The power dynamic between Beijing and Moscow has switched dramatically.
Xi and Putin Have the Most Consequential Undeclared Alliance in the World
It’s become more important than Washington’s official alliances today.
It’s a New Great Game. Again.
Across Central Asia, Russia’s brand is tainted by Ukraine, China’s got challenges, and Washington senses another opening.
Iraqi Kurdistan’s House of Cards Is Collapsing
The region once seemed a bright spot in the disorder unleashed by U.S. regime change. Today, things look bleak.
Sign up for Morning Brief
Foreign Policy’s flagship daily newsletter with what’s coming up around the world today. Delivered weekdays.
By submitting your email, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to receive email correspondence from us. You may opt out at any time.
